Rensselaer County man sentenced to 30 years in prison and lifetime supervision

RENSSELAER COUNTY, NY (WRGB) — Zachary Frye, 29, of Rensselaer County, was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison, followed by life supervised release, for sexual exploitation of a child, U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Buffalo Field Office, made the announcement.

According to Freedman and Scarpino, Frye admitted that he had been convicted in a New York state court in 2017 of promoting the sexual performance of a child when he pleaded guilty. He also admitted that, while he was required to register as a sex offender as a result of that conviction, he took several sexually explicit photographs of a child, approximately 5 years old, in the fall of 2019. The images Frye took included images of the child’s genitals and of the child’s hand on Frye’s penis. The same day he took the images, Frye sent them to another person on social media with whom he had discussed the child sexual abuse.

United States District Judge Anne M. Nardacci imposed the sentence. Frye must register as a sex offender when he is released from prison.

HSI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Gadarian prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Childhood.